Popular social networks should be brought under the Indian law, thinks Director of Intelligence Bureau, Asif Ibrahim. Speaking at the concluding day of the three day summit held in the capital New Delhi for the Directors General and Inspectors General of Police, the IB Chief shared his thought as a recommendation to the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

While welcoming the PM in his address, the IB Chief shared those foreign content-providers like Facebook and Twitter should be brought under Indian laws as is the case in several other countries. Asif once again highlighted that social media was one of the reasons to instigate recent communal violence in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. “It was observed that while security agencies in India were handicapped with technical and procedural constraints, foreign law enforcement agencies have unfettered access to social media,” added the IB Chief.

In fact the IB Chief, at the beginning of the summit, had shared the same opinion as our Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. Both think that social media platforms are being misused to create trouble in the country citing the recent example of the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.

Similar concerns were raised by the Union Home Minister, who once again lamented that “mischievous” use of the social media is sparking off communal trouble, ethnic clashes and reviving militancy in states like Punjab, and said that there was a need to monitor such propaganda over the internet. He also gave the example of Muzaffarnagar riots and raised the need of keeping a check on the medium.

Definitely the government would be pitching to bring social media under the law but it is surprising that there has been no discussion on how social media could be effectively used to not only connect with citizens but mobilize them as supporters to minimize the risks during unacceptable incidents.